World Tour - Ebola in the DRC, and remembering D-Day

MEGAN BASHAM, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with Africa reporter Onize Ohikere.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Congo Ebola outbreak—We start today here in Africa.

AUDIO [Sound of Congo Health Minister]

Ebola is back in the Democratic Republic of Congo. On June 1st, the country’s health minister reported six deaths and 12 total infections. The new cases mark the country’s third outbreak in two years. More than 2,000 people have died since 2018.

The new infections come just weeks before the country hoped to declare an end to the disease. Research from the DRC show the new outbreak likely came from an infected animal.

The virus is passed by bodily fluids and has an average fatality rate of about 50 percent. The country is also battling COVID-19 and the world’s largest measles outbreak.

Mali protests—Next we go to Mali.

AUDIO: [Sound of Mali protests]

Thousands of people gathered in the streets of the capital on Friday. They blared horns and chanted, demanding the president resign immediately.

AUDIO: [Mali protestor speaking Bambara]

The protesters denounced the government for being corrupt and arresting people arbitrarily. They also called for the release of the opposition leader. He was kidnapped by armed men while campaigning for office in March.

Mali has been in chaos since a 2012 uprising. Rebels overthrew the president, then Islamic insurgents took over. A French-led intervention ousted them in 2013, but jihadists remain active in the area, stoking animosity and violence between ethnic groups.

Israelis protest Netanyahu annexation—Next we go to the Middle East.

AUDIO: [Sound of Israeli protestors]

Crowds of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv Saturday to protest the government’s plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. They waved Palestinian flags and pounded on drums. One protester carried a sign saying “Palestinian lives matter.”

AUDIO: We are brothers, we belong here, both of us, and we can do so much more together than separately.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with settler groups on Saturday to discuss the annexation plan. Under the new policy, Israel would control about one-third of the West Bank. Palestinians would gain greater independence in the rest of the territory. But Palestinian leaders have rejected the plan. They want the entire West Bank territory to be an independent state with its capital in Jerusalem.

Czech flooding—Next we go to Europe.

AUDIO: [Sound of Czech flooding]

One person has died and another is missing after flash floods hit the Czech Republic. Torrential rains and thunderstorms pounded the region over the weekend, flooding several towns and villages east of Prague. Streets and homes were swamped by more than three feet of water.

Firefighters rescued three dozen people from flooded buildings and cars, or directly from the water.

Quiet D-Day—Finally, we end today in France.

AUDIO: I remember going across the channel, I looked on my right side, and there was a destroyer, very close.

Veterans and a handful of visitors marked the anniversary of D-Day on Saturday, June 6th. The beaches of Normandy are usually packed with crowds from all over the world. This remembrance was much quieter because of coronavirus travel restrictions. A few locals attended, wearing vintage clothes. French fighter jets soared overhead, trailing plumes of colored smoke.

One local fisherman said, “Even if we are only a dozen, we are here to commemorate.”

That’s this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

(AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File) In this July 13, 2019 file photo, health workers wearing protective suits tend to an Ebola victim kept in an isolation cube in Beni, Congo. 

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